The End of an Era

The bunkroom crew

So it begins. Children grow....things change. Life is change. Somehow it seems so much more harsh...this thing that comes like a thief in the night to steal away your young ones, turning them into older ones seemingly overnight. I watch them grow...changing, morphing, going into cocoons like baby caterpillars and emerging as my beautiful butterflies. It doesn't seem to make it any less real. And it surely does not seem to pause the quiet, rhythmic swing of the pendulum that hangs as our guardian of time staunchly ticking away the minutes on our kitchen wall....unforgiving and merciless in its vigil.

Gavin stands proud is his new bed showing off the new sleeping arrangements...and yes, those are a sz 3T jeans Garrison is wearing. Contrary to popular belief, they are not knickerbockers.

These babies of our's.....they grow. Like seeds planted and well watered......lots of days filled with sunshine....lots of rain, fertilized with the absolute love we sow into their loves, they flourish. In flourishing comes the bittersweet of both joy and agony as they transition from sweet babies to curious and mischievous toddlers to bright and well mannered children capable of bringing joy, humor and laughter into the mundane of everyday life and then into the God fearing adolescent people we have prayed so fervently for them to become. But a mother's heart is a tender thing....it holds her young ones close even as they outgrow her arms.

What I came in to discover at naptime.

Both Brad and I knew and were at complete peace that we would know the time to separate out our huge bunkroom of children. And we both knew that the Lord would be more than faithful to show us the time to do so. For almost 9 years of his 11 Grayson has shared a room with his much beloved Evye. And Evye has never known what it is to sleep in a place without him. Our humble two bedroom apartment allowed our first two children to share a bedroom from the very beginning. As our family grew, as well as our accommodations, we continued to add children that eventually outgrew the new nursery, compliments of a 3 bedroom home. Each grew into their place in this bunkroom of our's. Since we have never lived in anything larger than a 3 bedroom house as each baby graduated out of the nursery he or she made the huge celebratory transition to the "big room". And each one was greeted with just as much excitement and enthusiasm as all of the ones that went before them as their bunkroom begin to fill with more and more children that added to their every night parties.

What they had been doing before I opened the door.

As Ivye began to need the big crib the debate began on whether to move her up to share the nursery with Gavin, give the nursery over to her and just move Gavin's crib over to the bunkroom and transition him up or to finally....and tearfully....make the separation between the girls and boys. As Grayson grows older and modesty of all family members becomes a greater focus, along with appropriate behaviour even amidst your own family, Brad and I both knew somewhere deep within that this was the time....the hour had come.

Garrison and Gavin still standing proud....Grant just being himself. And yes, he wore it all day long.

After I had pulled a rare all nighter with Garrett and Ivye due to severe storms that electrified the skies all through the night I opted out of church a week ago. Brad took Grayson to church with him and played bass despite our absence and as Evye watched the younger ones I caught up on a few hours worth of sleep and then the children and I set to work. We scooted out beds, cleaned from top to bottom and started the disassembling of all beds involved. The toddler bed once again found its way out of the attic. With eager helpers to dust and wipe it down it soon found its new place in the newly deemed "boys' bunkroom". With Brad and Grayson home not long after, they finished putting together the bunkbed the girls and I had moved to the new "girls' room". I suppose reality started to seep in about the time Brad took apart Gavin's baby bed. Since we had 2 in the nursery and he was now graduating up to his own big bed there was little use for 2 cribs in there. Crib rails and pieces sat in stark contrast to our bright yellow hallway as my heart tried to wrap around the fact that times have indeed changed for us...never to be the same again. What has changed very little for us throughout our years of parenting was now changing for good......hands of time that cannot be turned back. Issues of parenting younger childhood years transition gently into issues of parenting older children years......things to think about, to consider, to take to heart concerning all of the different ages we now parent, things to consider as we parent this boy of our's that needs to learn the importance of modesty, character and appropriate behaviour, the importance of having it modeled and set as a standard within his own home.


Wooden bunkbeds stood erect, towering over this new place they occupy. Girls filled with dreams and ideas of paint colors, overjoyed by a new project to take on, a new place to organize and make their own. Boys lament the absence of their sisters, the companionship of their fun company. Sisters grow a little sadder as reality sets in and they see the forlorn faces of their buddies. Bedtime approaches and the crowds finally fill with excitement. Grayson and Evye, being the creative and ingenious people they are, discover that this must be exactly why God meant for them to own walkie talkies. First night in, they lay in their newly separated rooms radio-ing back and forth about all they see out their windows, the passing skunks and armadillos, our wandering cats, what their fellow siblings are doing, relaying messages from the younger ones. Excitement of the first night "alone" settling down, the old walls began to heave and sigh as it bedded down for the night and bedrooms finally grew quiet.

Entirely excited about her new accomplishment!

Once more, the pages of time have turned and we have settled into the new normal. The third bathroom, the itty bitty-ist of them all, that was rarely ever put to any use has found new life serving as the girls' new bathroom. With priming paint out plans have been made to drench their new bedroom walls in nothing less than Evye pink, of course, and their new bathroom walls in Aubrey purple. 3 growing girls now occupy what used to be our nursery. 5 boys now wrestle and tackle rowdily as they fight off sleep in their boys' room. They have agreed on a hunting wildlife theme. They unanimously agreed on a dust colored brown with hunter camo to accent on beds. Their larger bathroom is now being transformed into a hunter's paradise.....complete with camo shower curtain....once we get around to that part. It made the separation of them all a little more exciting and gave them something to be amazingly thrilled with and to look forward to.

On the very fast move these days.

As Grayson and Evye grow into a new age of life and Gavin leaves babyhood behind so does everybody's sweet baby "I-thee" grow. Only a few short days after she permanently graduated up to her "big bed" she amazed everyone with her ability to pull up. Once crawling was mastered she quickly moved on to bigger and better things in life....which now include pulling up and "walking" things across a room as she pushes and walks behind. She continues to amuse and delight everyone with her tenacity at life. We celebrated her 6th month birthday yesterday as we celebrated Mother's Day. She was also growing more and more agitated with her infant carseat so it only seemed fitting that as she made the big graduations from travel crib to big crib and begins to pull up, walk and sprout teeth that being bumped up to a big carseat fit in well. After the busy-ness of playing fruit basket turnover with the bedrooms I set to work on washing and putting away the infant carseat and washing and readying her new big girl seat, adjusting straps and tailoring it to her tiny little self. Aubrey graduated up to a normal booster, Garrison, being a full 3-4 inches taller than Grant, was bumped up to Aubrey's 5 point harness booster...much to Grant's dismay, Grant moved over to Garrison's, Garrett bumped up to Grant's, Gavin moved up to Garrett's which therefore freed a seat for Ivye. How's that for mixing things up?

Her big girl seat...and we were so excited that day to find that she had grown enough hair to actually clip a bow into that we just stuck the first in that we could find. So, it's in the St Patrick Day green category of colors and doesn't match at all....but hey, we got it in!

Perfect baby crawl posture

It's always a big change to have one graduate from the crib. But this time around it seemed compounded by the fact so much change accompanied it. Sweet Baby Gavin has very little baby left in him anymore. He is swiftly becoming a happy toddler that easily keeps up with the siblings before him. How amazing and exciting it is to watch them grow but oh how the heart twinges to see the baby fade. He did remarkably well throughout the transition of everything considering the fact he is one to not venture forth easily on uncharted ground. Dear Gavin loves his comfort zone and all that is familiar to him. After only a couple of nights of fussing, pointing and repeatedly taking my hand and walking me back to where his crib once stood he finally came to terms with the fact that this was his new room, his new bed and that he was fully expected to be at peace with it. Naptimes were a little easier then bedtimes those first few days. As the sun set on his 3rd night in his new surroundings he finally ran excitedly to it and clambered up. Flopping down on his pillow he grinned as he was showered with hugs and kisses and fell asleep happily only a few minutes later.

So, once again change is at hand. So very often it seems as though it should be Grayson graduating up to a big ole bed and Evye making the transition into a big crib. I treasure who they are becoming and marvel over what God is raising up in them. I am blessed daily with their obedience and respect, their ability to get the jobs at hand done, their intelligence, their willingness to incorporate the little ones into their play, to help them, to always maintain a watchful protective eye on them. Every once in awhile I look at them as they grow from their younger days into these tall children of mine and I see that baby I cradled not so very long ago. They are growing into these people that I have prayed so fervently for. They bless me. God has indeed been very, very good to us.

These are the children God has given me. God has been good to me.

Genisis 35:5 (NCV)